Hoops Habit
Fansided

Milwaukee Bucks: Two Adjustments For Game 2

By Peter Myhrer

Apr 18, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah (middle) loses the ball between Milwaukee Bucks players Jared Dudley (left) , Jerryd Bayless (19) and John Henson during the second quarter in game one of the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 18, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah (middle) loses the ball between Milwaukee Bucks players Jared Dudley (left) , Jerryd Bayless (19) and John Henson during the second quarter in game one of the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

As expected in a No. 3 vs. No. 6 matchup, the Milwaukee Bucks dropped Game 1 on the road to the Chicago Bulls, 103-91.

The Bucks played at a track meet pace to open the game, but it wasn’t something the team could sustain. After scoring 29 points in the first quarter, the team only managed quarters of 22, 24 and 16 to finish the game.

The Bulls kept up with the running Bucks early on and opened up a lead when Milwaukee’s bench entered the game. Behind a vintage performance by Derrick Rose, the Bulls won every quarter of the game, including the first quarter because of a banked-in three-pointer by Aaron Brooks:

He definitely called bank on that, right?

Although the Bucks did lose this game, it wasn’t like they played a perfect game and simply weren’t talented enough to beat the Bulls. Coach Jason Kidd wouldn’t be able to work with that scenario, but since they weren’t perfect, he can attempt to correct the mistakes that cost them the game.

1. Three-Point Shooting

The Bucks averaged 6.6 three-point makes per game during the regular season. On Saturday night, they shot 4-for-16 from behind the arc. That 25 percent shooting clip is not a good number and is even below the 31.8 percent that Milwaukee averaged in losses this season.

The team’s lack of a consistent inside scoring threat is noticeable when you look at what the shooting percentage of the team is in wins. The Bucks averaged 42.2 percent from beyond the arc in their 41 wins this season.

Whether Milwaukee wins or not comes down to the jump shot, but that’s not an uncommon thing around the league. In fact, even though the Bucks shot a poor percentage from deep, stats show they should be shooting more than the 16 shots they attempted.

Of the nine other teams that have completed their first round game in the playoffs, every team has attempted more threes than the Bucks. Accordingly, every other team has also made more three-pointers than the Bucks’ four.

Four of those nine teams also did lose though, so that alone doesn’t prove that three-point shooting is why the Bucks lost.

However, out of the eight series of the playoffs, five out of eight of those Game 1s were won by the team that shot more three-pointers. The Cleveland Cavaliers for example, shot a playoff leading 32 threes in their 113-100 win over the Boston Celtics, twice as many as Milwaukee put up.

So why exactly are other playoff teams shooting so many more threes than the Bucks?

One reason is that Milwaukee doesn’t shoot many non-open 3-pointers and there’s only so many open looks throughout a game. All 16 of the team’s three-point attempts from Saturday’s game came with the Bulls’ defender at least four feet away from the shooter, per NBA.com. In fact, nine of the 16 were taken with the shooter over six feet from the closest defender.

Considering this apparent strategy of strictly shooting open shots and the team’s need to shoot more three-pointers to be successful, there’s one important thing that the Bucks must do for both to happen.

BALL. MOVEMENT.

2. Ball Movement

As my family and roommates are well aware from the countless times I’ve screamed at Brandon Knight and Michael Carter-Williams this year, I’m a big proponent of players passing the ball for the sake of passing the ball.

The best offenses keep dribbling to a minimum because the ball travels all over the court via the pass. Ball swings force close-outs and close-outs create opportunities for offensive players to beat their man off the dribble.

I’ve found myself wondering this year if I just notice the stagnant Bucks’ possessions more than the ones that feature quality ball movement, but Milwaukee actually passes the ball less than their opponents. Saturday’s game against the Bulls was no exception.

As Jeremy Schmidt of Bucksetball pointed out, there was a significant difference in the number of passes made by each team in Game 1.

To be more specific, the Bulls passed the ball 357 times while the Bucks only passed the ball 246 times. Of the eight playoff teams that NBA.com has compiled so far, the Bucks’ 246 passes is the fewest.

A lot of the blame has to rest on the shoulders of Bucks point guard Michael Carter-Williams who played 34 minutes and had the ball in his hands a lot of that time. Carter-Williams led the team in both touches (60) and time of possession (6.0 minutes).

Despite leading the team in both of those categories, Carter-Williams only passed 42 times. To compare, Washington’s point guard John Wall made 85 passes in the first game of the Wizards’ series against the Toronto Raptors.

If Michael Carter-Williams can cut down on his time of possession by passing the ball more, it should create a chain reaction. There will be more opportunities for his teammates to pass the ball around and as a result, more open shot attempts.

For the Milwaukee Bucks to win Game 2 and tie up the series, they’re going to need to follow the example of elite NBA teams by making a team effort to pass more. If they can manage that, the open three-point looks will follow and so will the wins.

Make sure to tune in to Game 2 of Bucks vs. Bulls: Monday Apr. 20, 7:00 p.m., TNT

Next: The Biggest X-Factor On Every NBA Playoff Team

More from Hoops Habit

Home/Milwaukee Bucks